A Brooklyn public high school teacher has been charged with misdemeanor assault over a confrontation with a teen student he accused of taking too long to leave the classroom, police said.
Lawyers for the student, Lawren Stokes, 15, have filed a $10-million notice of claim over the episode, alleging the Department of Education never contacted police after the May 26 incident at the Brooklyn High School of Law and Technology in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Police said they first learned of the incident on May 28, when Lawren’s mom, Falesha Nettles, filed a complaint at the 81st Precinct. Police said detectives went to the school the day after, at which point school officials filled them in on what allegedly happened between the teacher, Brendan Connolly, 59, and the teenager.
Connolly was arrested June 15 for misdemeanor assault, issued a desk appearance ticket and released. Police said the incident happened when Connolly grew impatient as Lawren was not leaving the room quickly enough. He is accused of swinging her into a door, then pushing her into a wall, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
The notice of claim notes Lawren’s size — 5 feet 4 inches tall and 122 pounds. Filed June 18, it lists the mother, as Lawren’s guardian, and names the city and the DOE as defendants.
“As the infant claimant reached to unplug her charger from an outlet, Connolly grabbed her by her backpack which was on her back and threw the infant claimant against a door, injuring her,” the notice of claim says. “Connolly then grabbed the infant claimant by her collar and violently threw her up against a wall injuring her a second time.”
Lawren, who plays varsity basketball, is still recovering from bruises to her shoulder, arm and back according to the notice. Her left arm was in a sling for eight days, she says.
The notice of claim said the episode unfolded when the first bell rung and Lauren and other students “began to pack up their belongings before heading to their next class.” It says Connolly, who was teaching a class in the room for the next period arrived, and “began aggressively and abusively yelling at the students to get out of his classroom.”
Lawren says she told Connolly she just wanted to get her stuff and leave. After he initially grabbed her backpack, she told the News she grabbed Connolly by his collar, in an effort to push him off her. After that, she said, he pushed into the wall.
School officials and school safety agents showed up moments later, the notice of claim said, though the NYPD denied school safety agents were called to the scene.
The notice of claim pointed out that Lawren and her friend are Black and Connolly is white and that they “became the targets of Connolly’s tirade despite the fact that there were other students in the room.”
“Skin color plays a big part [in] it,” Nettles said. “I feel like if it was one of us or one of the (Black) students that did something like that to him, they would have automatically been arrested.”
DOE spokeswoman Isla Gething called the assault allegations “serious and deeply disturbing” but wouldn’t say why the NYPD wasn’t called right away. She said Connolly was “immediately reassigned away from children” and could be fired if the “claims are substantiated.”
The notice of claim said Connolly was allowed to continue teaching until his arrest and that Lawren was told not to take the two classes held on the same floor where he teaches. Gething did not address those issues.
Nicholas Liakas, one of Lawren’s lawyers, said the school’s inactions are “unacceptable.”
“The school should have placed the teacher on leave pending an investigation and taken proactive steps to protect the victim,” Liakas said, “rather than instructing the child to avoid attending classes on the same floor as the teacher.”
Connolly could not be reached for comment and his union, the United Federation of Teachers, declined to comment.
